Misery Loves Company
by CookieDoughMe
Summary: Nathan and Duke find themselves alone and miserable together. Spoilers for series 3 in that it takes place after an alternative ending to the series. In this reality, Audrey has gone into the barn and Duke and Nathan are left behind. The troubles have ended and everyone is happy. Almost everyone is happy.


The bar is dark, empty and in a mess. Duke is clearing up alone.

"You closed early," says Nathan shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, well, everyone was celebrating," Duke shakes his head. "I couldn't stand any more of their happiness."

Nathan seems to hesitate, wondering if he should leave Duke to it.

"Don't worry," says Duke, glancing at him, "Your misery I can stand."

He walks to the bar and takes an unopened bottle of whiskey from the back of a cupboard. "I don't serve this to just anyone," he says, opening the bottle and taking down two glasses, "But I think we deserve it."

He walks round the bar to hand a glass to Nathan who thanks him with a short nod. They sit side by side at the bar in silence, the remnants of the celebrations (the evidence of the rest of the town's relief) forgotten behind them. There isn't much to say and they drink in silence for a while. Nathan knows Duke is the one person who won't try to tell him he should be glad that Audrey's gone. He can be miserable here without feeling guilty about bringing anyone else down.

Duke reaches for the bottle again and his fingers brush the back of Nathan's hand on the way. He would barely have noticed, but he sees Nathan's reaction; the sharp intake of breath.

"Still adjusting, huh?" says Duke, pouring their drinks from the now largely empty bottle. "Your body must be aching for her."

Nathan just shakes his head.

"Sorry. That was harsh. It's just … that's how I feel; an ache. It's something physical for me, but for you it's worse, you know what you're missing, and now with your trouble gone …" He stops himself before he says something daft and just puts his hand on Nathan's arm instead. "It must be difficult."

They're still for a moment and then Duke takes his hand away to reach for his glass instead, unsure if he really did hear Nathan let go of the breath he was holding.

"You never did sleep with her then," says Nathan, "I wondered for a while."

It's not really a question, but Duke answers anyway, "No. One kiss, but ... she preferred you."

Nathan hears the sadness in Duke's voice and really realises for the first time how much the other man misses her too.

"Can't say I blame her, in a way."

It takes Nathan a moment to realise what Duke is talking about and he looks at him, puzzled. Duke leans forward and brushes the briefest of kisses against Nathan's lips. The puzzlement on Nathan's face turns to surprise, but he doesn't move. Duke assesses his reaction, then turns on his bar stool so they're closer together and kisses him again; for just a little longer.

Nathan starts to say something, "Wh…?"

But Duke doesn't give him a chance, cutting him off with one quick sentence; the words tumbling over each other in their rush to get out, "She's gone, Nathan, and I'm the only person in this whole town who understands how you feel."

He looks him in the eyes for a moment, Nathan as still as a rock. Duke shifts his gaze to Nathan's mouth, moving towards him so slowly he almost doesn't feel it right away when their lips touch. Nathan moves then too, just as slowly. A moment later the realisation he's actually kissing him back sends a shiver through Duke's whole body.

Duke brings one hand up to Nathan's back and then the other to his waist, his thumb slipping under Nathan's t-shirt to touch his skin. A few moments later, Nathan pulls back, just a little, his eyes down, "This isn't …" he begins, "This is just …" But he doesn't have the words.

"This isn't anything other than what it is," says Duke. "This is just this, nothing more." He brushes his thumb along Nathan's waist at the second "this" and watches Nathan's breath catch in response.

Nathan looks him in the eye then and they hold each other's gaze for one heartbeat, then another. So close they can feel each other's body heat; breath on skin. Duke sees anger and despair in Nathan's eyes; he wanted Audrey. Well, that was fair enough; Duke wanted Audrey too. She'd pulled them both by the heart strings and she'd pulled them together, because now she was gone and here they were instead. His old enemy, his old friend; it didn't really matter. They knew each other and they understood, and that was something neither of them was going to find anywhere else.

They search each other's eyes for a moment, Duke unable to tell if Nathan finds what he's looking for or doesn't, but either way he moves slowly towards Duke who waits until the last possible moment to respond at that same, slow pace.

When Nathan rests his hands lightly against Duke's waist, Duke slips off the bar stool and moves his hands around Nathan's back, pulling them closer together to stand between Nathan's legs. Gradually, their kissing becomes more intense; Nathan moves one hand across Duke's back and slides the other up his neck into his hair and Duke pulls them still closer together.

Duke wants to pull off Nathan's t-shirt, but wonders for the first time whether the semi-public environment of the bar with all its windows is the best place. A moment later he pulls back a little and reaches for the whiskey bottle. "Maybe we should take this," he says, gesturing towards Nathan with it, "upstairs."

Nathan opens his mouth to speak, but is out of words again. So Duke picks up both glasses and twists out of Nathan's arms. "There's more if you want," he says (not really talking about the drink) and walks towards the door that will take him out to the stairs and up to the apartment still full of Audrey's things.

For one awful moment, Duke thinks Nathan isn't going to move. When he hears his footsteps following him, he feels a grin stretch across his face and resists the urge to run.


End file.
